


Calm Within the Storm

by Elysium16



Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Astraphobia, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, One Shot, Rare Pairings, Yes you read the pairing right, like really rare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 11:04:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19868584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elysium16/pseuds/Elysium16
Summary: It's late, it's stormy, and Galeem's tired as all hell, but he might just indulge Dharkon on this one request. Just this once.





	Calm Within the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> THIS SHIP.
> 
> THIS. EFFING. SHIP.
> 
> You ever find a pairing that you ship just for fun but then it grows and grows and you start taking it seriously _and then it takes over your goddamn **life?!**_
> 
> Because that's pretty much me with Galeem/Dharkon.
> 
> Thanks to a very good fanfic on this very site (Work #17015739, if ya know what I mean) and a Tumblr blog I frequent, I have become one of the few shippers of this unbelievably weird couple. _(sweatdrops)_ Yaaaaaay. 
> 
> But since I do rather like the pairing, I have taken it upon myself to write AO3's very first non-smut Galeem/Dharkon fanfiction. (And something I probably should've mentioned in my _last_ story: this is set after World of Light, the two are Spirits staying in the mansion, and I headcanon Spirits to be really small.)
> 
> Enjoy the show!

It was a dark and stormy night. No, really, it was. Heavy rain pounded on the roof of the mansion, wind whooshed past the windows and wreaked havoc on the landscaping, and very bright lightning flashed across the sky, accompanied by very loud claps of thunder. In short, very bad for people who wanted to get a good night’s sleep.

It was nights like these that Galeem was glad he was a heavy sleeper. The Smashers hadn’t taken long at all to find out that when it came to the Lord of Light, they could’ve shouted at the top of their lungs, shot guns everywhere, smashed doors with hammers, and even set off loud explosions and he still wouldn’t wake up. Thunderstorms barely bothered him, even loud ones.

This one, however, was pushing those boundaries a bit. Two hours in, and he was _still_ awake. This was highly irregular, because of the whole “extremely heavy sleeper” thing. Generally, there were two reasons he’d still be awake after two hours of trying to sleep. One was that the storm managed to defy the norm and keep him up with how loud it was. The other was that there was _something_ that needed to be done, and until it _was_ done no way in hell he was sleeping.

He ruled out the latter quickly. He’d made sure that everything that had to be done that day _got_ done. Procrastination wasn’t an option as far as Galeem was concerned, partially because putting off what needed to be done could come back to bite you and partially because he was a stickler to strict scheduling.

Maybe that was why the Smashers always made him do the chores.

But that didn’t matter, because he was _finally_ drifting off to sleep, the sounds of rain and wind growing distant. In the back of his mind, he wondered if there really _was_ something he was supposed to be doing right now, but he dismissed the thought. He’d be asleep soon anyway.

_Knock knock._

Or not.

With a sigh, Galeem pulled himself out of bed and floated to his door, already preparing to chew out the person who thought it would be a good idea to knock on his door in the middle of the night. Or scream at them. With Galeem, there wasn’t much difference.

He grabbed the door handle and pulled it open, not even bothering to check who’d visited before starting the rant. “Okay, listen, I have _no_ idea who the hell you think you are, but you have precisely _no_ reason or right to visit me this la—!” He stopped when he saw who it was.

Normally, Dharkon being at his door would’ve caused even more yelling, maybe some cussing, and possibly even things being thrown if he was in an _especially_ poor mood. But this time, something gave Galeem pause.

Maybe—what with the shrunken iris and the shaking limbs and that his eye was pointed right at the floor—it was how afraid Dharkon looked.

“Are you okay?” Galeem asked, voice a little gentler this time.

Dharkon startled and looked up. He blinked a few times, then nervously laughed. “ _Whaaaat_ are you talking about! I’m just fine! I was just…heading to the broom closet is all! Eheh…”

“Then why did you knock on my door?” Galeem asked, annoyance slipping back into his voice.

“…no special reason?”

Galeem was seconds away from screaming at him when—

_BOOM!_

Lightning shone through the windows, thunder following only a few seconds behind. Dharkon screamed, _violently_ flinching back into the hallway, eye squeezed shut. Galeem’s anger fizzled out again, replaced by confusion.

~~_(Maybe even sympathy.)_ ~~

“Are you _sure_ you’re okay?” he asked.

“I…um…” Dharkon hesitated, then sighed and looked back up. “No.”

“Are you scared?”

“…yeah.”

“Of the storm?”

“Just the lightning.”

Galeem supposed there were worse things a living manifestation of darkness could fear. “Well, what do you want me to do about it?”

“I…um…well, usually, I hide in the darkest place I can find, but…this is really embarrassing, but—”

“Can you _please_ get it over with so I can go to sleep?”

Dharkon’s eye nervously darted back and forth. “Well, um…I…er…you see—”

“Oh, would you look at that!” Galeem cut in, his patience having run out. “It’s _really freakin’ late_ o’clock, meaning it’s time for me to _go back to bed._ ” He turned to leave.

“W-wait!” Dharkon grabbed his wing, stopping Galeem in his tracks. “I…I…” He sucked in a breath. “ _Iwantedtocuddletonight!_ ”

There was a silence in the room. Only the rain and wind outside could be heard.

Finally, Galeem managed a, “ _What._ ”

“I…I’m scared…so…I wanted to cuddle with you, and be…less scared.” Dharkon nervously laughed. “Y’know? That…that thing?”

For the first time in a long time, Galeem was at a loss for words.

“Is, um…that okay? I mean, I usually just go to the broom closet, but—”

“Please do that,” Galeem said, voice tight.

“Huh?”

“Please go to the broom closet, hide out there for the storm, and do _not_ bring this up in the morning.”

“But the closet’s _cold,_ and _cramped,_ and I’m pretty sure it has a spider infestation!” (Okay, he made a good point with the last one.) “I don’t _like_ hiding in it.”

“And you think _I’m_ going to like having you as a roommate because of a little storm?!”

“I’ll be quiet!”

“Oh, yeah, because ‘quiet’ is _totally_ a word in your dictionary!”

“It wouldn’t matter anyway! You never wake up!”

“I still wouldn’t want you in my room!”

“I won’t break anything!”

“This isn’t _about_ whether or not you’ll break anything!”

“Then what is it about?!”

“I—”

_BOOM!_

It was like a miniature sun had exploded. The room was flooded by bright white light, accompanied by a clap of thunder loud enough to shake the mansion. It was enough to get Galeem to yell in surprise, and Dharkon’s scream could’ve been heard for miles.

When the light died down, Galeem released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Goddamn,” he muttered, shock keeping him from saying much else. _Holy crap, that one must’ve been close._ If the Smashers weren’t awake before, they’d certainly be now.

He absently rubbed the side of his core, waiting for the spots in his vision to disappear. His…well, not ears, but whatever counted for them were ringing, and he wasn’t quite sure whether that was thanks to the thunder or Dharkon screa—

And that was when Galeem noticed a very important thing.

Dharkon was clinging to him, two tendrils wrapped tightly around Galeem’s core. His eye was squeezed shut, and his entire body was trembling.

_...oh, you have **got** to be kidding me._ “Dharkon,” Galeem hissed. “Let go.”

Dharkon mumbled something.

“Dharkon!”

No response.

Galeem sighed. He grabbed both tendrils with his wings and tugged. Nothing.

He pulled. That, too, didn’t work.

He sighed again, then tightened his grip. Bracing himself for the inevitable pain—no way having claws dragged across his core would be pleasant—Galeem yanked on both tendrils as hard as he could.

They didn’t give way.

His wings returned to his side and he stared, dumbfounded, at Dharkon. “How strong _are_ you?” he muttered. Either those tiny tendrils were packing a lot more muscle than they looked, or…

Or maybe he was _that_ afraid of lightning.

Speak of the devil, lightning flashed through the windows and thunder boomed overhead. Galeem inwardly winced, but Dharkon didn’t scream—he just whimpered and hugged Galeem tighter. Somehow, that was even worse than a scream. Most likely because the screams, at least, were funny. This was just plain sad.

In fact, it was enough to get Galeem to do something he didn’t normally do.

He gave up.

He floated to his bed and lied back down, then wrapped a wing around Dharkon’s eye. Dharkon stopped shaking, and his eye widened in surprise. “Are you…?”

“Good on you to notice.”

For a few seconds, Dharkon didn’t move. He just stared at Galeem, eye wide.

Then, he curled up into the hug and closed his eye, snuggling deeper. “‘S warm,” he mumbled. “It’s…actually really nice…”

“What did you _think_ it would be like?” Galeem asked flatly, but he was already reaching out to wrap a wing around the rest of him.

“Dunno. Don’t care. It’s nice, and that’s what matters.” Dharkon paused, then giggled. “Y’know, it’s weird how you’re s’pposed to be my mortal enemy and all, an’ then you do this.”

Galeem’s core heated up. “I, er…look, just don’t tell anyone about this next morning.”

“I won’t.”

Another flash of lightning lit up the windows, and Galeem braced himself—but Dharkon didn’t even notice. _Huh._ Who would’ve thought that cuddling would actually work?

Galeem looked back to Dharkon to say something, but the latter was already asleep. His eye rested against Galeem’s core, which two tendrils were (now loosely) wrapped around. The rest of his limbs were draped across and around his eye. Despite himself, Galeem invisibly smiled. _He’s cute when he’s sleeping._

He then made a mental note to get his brain checked first thing in the morning, because no way in _hell_ had he just thought that.

But that would be tomorrow, which was still quite a few hours away. As for the right now, he let his vision dim, _finally_ about to sleep. The storm outside grew distant, fading into muffled sounds. Dharkon stirred slightly in his wings, and he felt another invisible smile creep up on him. He wasn’t exactly used to holding something—or someone, in this case. He decided he quite liked it.

“Good night,” he mumbled, and then he _finally_ fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaand curtain!
> 
> Think I did this rarepair justice? Do I have any skill whatsoever in the art of cuddlefics? Leave a comment down below–I love reading them!
> 
> Thanks for reading. :)


End file.
